so much in so little time

well, it has been a C-R-A-Z-Y couple of weeks!! seriously, we have been so busy and had so much going on, i haven't even been able to blog about dillon's birthday!! it was 2 weeks ago!!!! we postponed his actual birthday party to the 15 since ben had to be in oklahoma. the whole williams clan was here, but there was a fear of an ice storm, so grandpa and granny had to leave early. however, much fun was had by my family the williams ladies and the atkins. here's a picture of his birthday cake that i made. i didn't get any of him eating his cake on still shot, but my sister-in-law got it all on video. i think it's like 5 minutes long, so please feel free to skim it. dillon has a GREAT time eating cake and anything sugary...should i be worried? i don't think so. he's just a normal kid ;)

the birthday boy!!

does he look like his daddy or what?!?!? i mean with a frosted beard ;)

so, after the williams left, we had a few days (like 2 or 3) before the myatts came to town. those three were filled with cleaning the house a little bit and finishing up Christmas shopping. also, ben was very busy at work helping this convention centerget their visitor's guide finished up. he's on the second draft and waiting for corrections. he has worked so hard in the past couple of weeks, so we're both very very thankful for a couple of days break ;)
so, this past week was Christmas, obviously, and we spent most of the time at my parents' house. in this house, there were 8 adults, ages 28-58, and 8 children, ages 1 month-6 years. it was SO much fun. dillon didn't have a second of non-stimulation except when he was sleeping. every year, my dad reads the Christmas story from Luke 2 and the grandkids act it out. michael and zoe are mary and joseph, marie and tessa are angels, and mom was hoping that luke, tate, and dillon would be shepherds...however, that didn't work out too well. isaac was baby Jesus and it was a hit! it was even more fun after the story was read that tessa and marie made up stories for mimi and papa to act out. we also rented a 15 passenger van, fit 8 car seats, 8 children, and 8 adults in there (yes, that's 16 people in a 15 passenger van) and went to look at Christmas lights. we ended up at the hailey's house...aka the christmas tree house in jackson...and saw over 30 trees, plus a HUGE train set and a bunch of little trains. that house is AMAZING!!! this was an old tradition that we did as kids and my brother decided it was time to bring it back. we'll see if we keep doing it year after year...of course none of us can have any more children if we keep doing it because we can't all fit ;) anyway, we had a great Christmas and we racked up with all KINDS of presents! ben got a new desk and i got a new ipod, to name a couple. we're so grateful for our family and we hope that your Christmas was as great as ours. God bless you!

in case you can't read their shirts, they say "all mommy wants for Christmas is a silent night" ... do you think i got it by the looks of this picture? ha!

the boys in their christmas pjs...i know...dillon's has nothing to do with Christmas, but i thought they were great for a little rocker baby and isaac's do have a candy cane on them ;)

the buzz around here

so, i realize that it has been two weeks since we came home with isaac from the hospital, but do you realize that i have two children under one year old!!! that is until tomorrow. dillon thomas williams will be one tomorrow, thursday, december 11, 2008. i can't BELIEVE it!!!!! this year has FLOWN by! and just think, this time next year, isaac will be one and i will have thought that this year has FLOWN by! anyway, we celebrated once already with the myatt/tankersley families, and dillon DOVE into his cake, but i'm going to wait to do a post only with dillon in it to post all of the pics. we're doing another birthday with the williams/stover families that my family will come to as well; however, we are having to wait until monday to celebrate. it's with a sad heart that i say this...ben's grandpa passed away on saturday, dec. 6. you can read ben's blog here...scroll down to "our world has been oficially rocked" and "no time for bloggin'"... to get a little more about grandpa. he was a great man and we know that he is praising Jesus face to face now, and he's not in any pain anymore. praise God that we get to go to a better place. it's also sad though, because ben needed to be in oklahoma for the funeral. so, i am a single mom for a couple of days...i'll let you know how it goes. :)

::edit::
i did fine as a single mom, but it really made me realize how thankful i am for ben and for our family. i missed more so the companionship that comes from a spouse. it's so hard to make yourself get up and care for a newborn when you don't have anyone to discuss matters with. to all my single mom friends, you guys are AMAZING and i will forever hold you at a higher reign in my book for raising your children by yourself.

:::::::::::::::::
so, what else has been going on here you ask? well, this year we have started a new Christmas tradition. we celebrate advent at our church. i have been very amazed at how many of my friends have never heard of advent and they don't know what it is. advent is basically the preparation for celebrating Christ's birth. and a lot of times, churches focus on the second coming of Christ. this is a very exciting time at our church as we anticipate the coming of Christ. well, as a family, we want nothing more than to instill in our boys who Christ is and why we celebrate Christmas. so, we have started the jesse tree this year. what's the jesse tree you ask? you can go here for a detailed explination of it, or i'll tell you a short version ;) jesse is the first name in the geneology of Jesus in matthew. so, this tree has ornaments on it that tell the story from jesse to Jesus, through the old testament and how everything in scripture points to Jesus. it has been so fun to watch dillon throw the ornaments on our tree and to see him take the ornaments out of our little advent house. we know it's the utmost importance to establish these traditions early in life for our boys and whichever other children God chooses to put in our family. it makes me so excited for the years to come and the questions that both dillon and isaac will be asking about Christ and why we do what we do in the williams family. God has blessed us so much, and we realize the importance of being parents and to teach our children the gospel and the truth from day one. i was talking to a friend the other day and was telling her about the jesse tree. i said "i guess it's kinda silly for us to be doing this this early." glenna said "janie, it's never too early to start traditions with your family! that's why they're traditions!!" i'm so glad that we are doing this this year. it has been such a blessing for me.

in other news, several of you probably know that i have struggled with endometriosis in the past. pregnancy is a somewhat "cure" for endometriosis...meaning you're not in pain with it when you are pregnant. so, when dillon was born, i felt pain with my endo two weeks after the birth. well, with isaac, it has been no different. when isaac was almost exactly two weeks old, i felt that pain that you know so well, that doesn't feel like anything else, and that feels like someone is sticking you with a pin (p-i-n...not p-e-n). ben and i (along with half the world, i think) have prayed for healing for some time and there was a year that we didn't think we would even be able to have children at all, and now we have TWO! but, we ask ourselves again, will God give us anymore children? will we ever be able to conceive again? we don't know. however, i do know that the Lord is glorified even in my pain and, if anything, it teaches me more about Him and allows me to minister to other girls who have endo as well. it teaches me to trust in the Lord with ALL of my heart. to REALLY trust HIM. that is what 2008 has been all about for me. really trusting that God will provide and that it doesn't matter what we do, as long as we are trusting in Him. we do ask that you pray for me and for healing, however, i'm not going to ask that for long. i feel like this is my life. and my life is not my own, so if this is how God wants me to live, why not use it for His glory instead of complaining about it all the time ;)

well, in family news, dillon turned one on thursday. we still have yet to celebrate his birthday really. we did have a cake and spaghetti at my mom's house last sunday, but that was for four birthdays...that's right. we have four birthdays within a week in my family. he is doing so many fun things right now! he's SO expressive, SO funny, he's saying words, he loves to walk while holding on to our fingers and would do that for FOREVER! he says "dye dye" and waves (of course for bye bye), he says "pup pup" for petey, he says "dada" when we talk about daddy and see daddy, and when he wants to be held or fussy, he says "mama". we're still working on that one ;) we are having a party on monday night for him, so i will post pictures of that party later, but for now, here's our little one year old!




isaac is doing very well as well. he's in about 50th percentile for weight (8 lb 15 oz at his two week checkup) and 65th percentile for his height (22 in already!) the boy is GROWING!!!! he is such a good baby and we are sleeping when we can. he still is waking up twice in the middle of the night to eat...i'm really ready for it to be once...but he is only two weeks old ;)

well, speaking of, it's time to feed him. we will post pictures of our williams' family Christmases later this week and we're gearing up for the myatt family Christmas next week, where i'm sure we'll have more pics. we love you all!! thanks for reading this ridonculously long blogpost.

ps sorry about the gross newborn pics. he's just so great!

look who dcided to come a little early!!!!

i am proud to announce that i am now the mommy of two little boys UNDER the age of 1!!!! isaac james williams came into the world on monday, november 24, 2008, at 10:30 pm, weighing 7 lb, 11 oz, and 19.5 inches long! we are so thankful for him and praise Jesus for a healthy little boy and a healthy little mommy!






****i don't have all of our pics uploaded yet, so this will have to do for now. more pics to come of big brother and little brother soon!!!*****

isaac's and dillon's room!

while ben's mom was here, we had a good time trying to figure out how to put two cribs in the boys' room. we did figure it out and i do have to say that it's cozy in there! dillon loves playing in his room and i'm sure that isaac will, too :). well, tonight, we hung isaac's name up that i made today while watching a couple episodes of gilmore girls (my fave). here's the finished product...


in other news, dillon has started cruising around furniture and wanting to walk EVERYWHERE! he holds on to our fingers and takes off! it's really fun seeing him pull up to standing and just growing like he should. we are SO thankful for a great little boy who is developing correctly. what a blessing that is. ben took a lot of pictures that i'm going to upload to picassa...you can click the link in the right-hand column for all the pictures...but here are some of my faves :)

he loves to play the piano...seriously...he could stand here for HOURS!!!

love that paci...peek-a-boo!

isaac's name...like big brother's, but a different color ribbon.

mommy and dillon playing...i think dillon was giving me a kiss...those are the best kisses :)

also, i had a show for bug-a-roo on saturday and union's arts in the park. it was a good day...VERY COLD...but good and we had a good time. we got the word out about my side biz and i'm looking forward to more orders and all that fun stuff after isaac gets here. i did go to the doctor yesterday and we are right on track! i'm not dilated or anything like that, but i am (from ben's orders and doctor's orders) trying to take it a little easier. one great thing is that i'm not working anymore and so dillon and i are able to have a little more time together...even though he misses aunt cilla, unkie kirby, aunt rach rach, caleb, and leah terribly!!! (that's who kept dillon while i worked for those who don't know.) i'm so thankful for our friends and family who have helped me out while i'm so big and so ready to have isaac! you guys are wonderful and mean more to us than you'll ever know.
we're also gearing up for thanksgiving and Christmas. ben and i were watching tv the other night and ben said "let's go get our tree now!" (this was actually about 3 weeks ago). so, we've started listening to Chrismas music and are very excited about Christmas this year and spending it with all of our family. we will go get our tree in a couple of weeks so that the house is decorated before isaac comes...hopefully :) it's very exciting to be able to spend the holidays with everyone and to start new traditions with dillon. we have an advent calendar and a little tree that i think we're going to put in the sunroom for his jesse tree ornaments...we'll see how that goes this year...next year it will be a LOT of fun i'm sure. anyway, it's 8:38 and dillon is still sleeping...sometimes a good thing, no always a good thing to have a little bit more time in the morning than you think you will. he must be TIRED. we love you all and don't forget to look at the pics to the right on picasa!
just a couple more...i can't help it!!!

37 weeks! only 3 more to go!

that VERY COLD day at union. thanks to mimi, dillon was the warmest one out there and even slept for an HOUR with everyone around him!!

his new favorite thing! he's so proud!

happy halloween!!!

so, last night was halloween! dillon is so little...as you know...and he doesn't eat candy...but we took him trick-or-treating anyway! we only went to a few houses to show off our little monkey, but it was so good and fun to show him off!

grammy and dillon hanging out with the pumpkins ;)

trick or treating at mimi and papa's

and at granny's. she gave ben and janie "treats" as well ;) i love granny!!!

also, grammy has been here this past week. we have had such a good time with her! we've been shopping everyday, and i think that dillon and isaac are SET! we have been busy trying to figure out how both cribs will fit in the boys' room and i think we've figured it out, we just need to get rid of a chair. i'll post pictures of the finished product, but until then, here's a pic of dillon playing in isaac's bed. :) it was almost like this boy knew it wasn't his bed and he bounced around on that bed like he never has in his crib. it was a blast!!



here's a few more pictures, too, of new things that dillon is doing. he has 4 1/2 teeth and i think that 1/2 is going to break through any day. poor boy, he's been teething for about 3 weeks now, and i am ready for him to be done! he's such a good baby and he's so happy all the time. we can't wait for little isaac to get here. i just can't wait to see what he looks like and see if he has hair and if he has big feet and who he looks like! it's just going to be great!!! 4 1/2 weeks to go!!! YIPPEE!!!! we hope everyone had a happy halloween!!!

it's so fun to EAT!!!!

CHEESE!!!!

i'm SO big!!!

fun in the bathtub!!

sorry it's been so long

so, i realize i haven't updated in almost a month. there's not really any excuse for that except that we have been pretty busy, nothing huge has been going on, and dillon is doing great! we haven't had any visitors until just yesterday...ben's mom is in town for the rest of the week!!! it's always such a blessing to have grammy/brenda/mom here and i'm sure that we'll have lots of pictures to post afterwards. i don't even think that i have any new pictures to post of dillon...i'll look and see. we did get dillon's isaac's crib and mattress, dillon's new carseat, AND our double stroller ALL last weekend, thanks to grandparents and the wonderful girls that i used to work with at the salon. we are SO excited for isaac to get here and i'm so glad ben's mom IS here this week so she can help me arrange the two cribs, bookshelf, chest of drawers, changing table, and rocking chair that we have in the boys' room. we might have to do away with the rocking chair :( ... but i think i will live. ha! for those of you that are wondering...ben did hear back from aeneas. they are looking for more of a part-time person. well, ben is willing to negotiate with them if they are with them about him being that part-time person, but we will just have to wait and see what God does. praise Him, that ben has been VERY busy the past couple of weeks. this is usually his down week and the only reason i saw him during the day yesterday was because of the trip to the airport to get brenda. we praise God that He has given us the flexibility of having ben work from home and we are SO thankful for the steady, busy work that he has had! we pray that the Lord continues to bless ben in his efforts to provide for us. we know that God can do anything he wants, and we really really appreciate your prayers for our family. they have definitely been felt. as far as everything else goes, isaac continues to grow, praise the Lord. i went to the doc monday and she told me if i did go into labor, they wouldn't do anything to stop me. so, part of me would LOVE to go into labor NOW and part of me really wants this little guy to hang on for a little bit longer ;). i have been having contractions...nothing serious or regular, but i know that he is getting ready to get here and i am so excited for that. i can't wait to see what he looks like and to hold his little hand and kiss his little nose and see his little toes. anyway, we love you all and we thank God for His provision as of late. come see us soon!!

please pray!!!

ben has an interview at aeneas tomorrow at 10:00 am!!!! please pray and we will keep you posted!!!!!!
****************************************EDIT******************************************
SO, the interview did go well. everything that we had heard about this position was not exactly true, but the director of sales seemed to really like ben and they hit it off. so, that is good. also, this company is not in any hurry to fill the position. and what we thought would be full time with benefits and everything turns out that it might just be a parttime position for ben because he's worth more than a recent college grad :) (sorry to all of you recent college grads, but it's only true). so, we beg you to still pray. we need this job very badly. ben needs wisdom in knowing when to contact them again to check on the status of the job and to know exactly what to do. we're praying for an open or closed door period. so, please join us in praying for that. thanks so much for your prayers and if you have any further questions, please call either one of us. seriously, we KNOW that all of you have been praying and there's no way that we can thank you for that. we love you all!

there's a first time for everything!

so, we decided to give dillon SPAGHETTI on monday! monday nights seem to be, and have been for a long time, spaghetti night at the williams's. it started out with stefi brazzeal and josh mousse coming over for dinner every monday. josh worked (and still does) at this great liquor store in nashville and we had a tour of wines around the world, thanks to josh ;) those were great times! well, josh got married, stefi moved to georgia, and since then, joe and lisa garner, ariel gee, and some others have been a big part of spaghetti night. well, now dillon gets to partake in spaghetti night! he LOVED it!!!! please notice the clump in his hair, and ben decided we needed to market a new hair product, spaghetti gel. gross :)

the finished product...everything got thrown in the wash...including dillon!


oh how this boy loves bath-time!!!

and as promised, here's a picture of isaac james! 8 weeks and counting!!!!

we love reading!!!

this is dillon's new favorite thing to do.



he LOVES this book tails. it's about all
the different kinds of animal tails, but i think what he likes the most about it is the different textures that it shows all of the animals having! it's a really cool book, even if it is torn up by the time he's three ;) he'll enjoy it for these three years.
dillon has also started doing a LOT of new things. we started him on table food (see the previous two posts), he started drinking from a sippee cup, we're weening him off of formula (praise Jesus) and he's crawling. that's right!!! he's not up on all fours yet, but this kid gets around!! sometimes he'll get really tired of crawling and just start rolling all over the place again, but he loves to crawl under the piano and play the pedals, he loves the door, and he loves to get under the table or chair and lay there and read. it's pretty fun to see this little personality coming out in our little boy! also, his favorite words as of late are mm-bop mm-bop mm-bop, pop pop pop, hada, and dada. i'm not sure that he realizes that he's talking about ben when he says dada, but we'll both take it for now.
as for other news, we only have 8 MORE WEEKS until little isaac gets here. i hate to say this, but i really am looking forward to not being pregnant and i'm looking forward to seeing what isaac looks like! that's THE most fun thing in the world!! i'll try to post a pic later of my HUUUUGE belly. it's crazy, this belly of mine ;) we love you all! here's a little video of dillon crawling. sorry it's a little dark.

happy fall ya'll!

well, the weather isn't very fall-ish...although i think that it's coming to jackson next week! i LOVE fall!!! i think a lot of people do love fall, but it's just so wonderful when the high is 70 degrees, and the low is 50, and you get to wear hoodies and jean jackets and i just LOVE fall!! i love getting pumpkins to go on our front porch, i love eating pumpkin muffins and pumpkin roll (made by dottie herself, of course!), i love pumpkin spice lattes from starbucks, i love putting dillon in a long sleeve shirt with shorts on, i just LOVE fall! i love mums, i love the leaves changing and i REALLY love our neighborhood in the fall, because we have some of THE best trees in the state of tennessee!

so, to commemorate fall, we went to green acres pumpkin patch in milan, tn, today! that's milan with a long i. dillon wasn't really that sure what to think about all the pumpkins, but he did have a really good time hitting them like drums, and chewing on a couple of the stems (gross). even though it is 86 degrees today (hot still), i think the weather is going to be changing next week, which means i can get pansies and mums to go with all of our pumpkins that we got today! yippee!!!! here's a few pictures of dillon and the pumpkins. we hope you enjoy!

this is a good one, daddy!

look at how big that gourd is!!!

our little family :)

mommy and dillon

i like the drums!!!

bug-a-roo!

don't forget to check out the bug-a-roo blog! i have some new fabric, and if you mention the blog, you receive $5 off your purchase!! happy babying!!!

new things

dillon is doing great these days!! he is rolling ALL over the place. he is getting up on all fours and rocking back and forth. he is making all kinds of new sounds. and he is eating real food. no more making baby food!!! one of my friends has just written a great blog of how to make your own baby food if you are interested. here is her blog. making baby food was great at first, but it just got really really old. so, i'm really excited that dillon is eating off of our plates, or eating a turkey and cheese sandwich in really little pieces all taken apart ;) he also had his first hot dog yesterday, and he loved it, which is pretty great, considering how much ben and i love hot dogs. i know, if you think about it too long, you get grossed out, but we love them! dillon also has his two bottom teeth!!! he won't keep his mouth open long enough for me to get a picture of him, and everytime we try to look at them, he sticks his tongue out. little stinker ;) here's a few pictures and videos to show how big dillon is. the last video is of dillon and petey playing together. they are going to be best buds. dillon thinks petey is hilarious! we can't wait for them to run around together!

the turkey and cheese "sandwich"

a happy boy!!


the hand on the chest means please.

we also had our first outing to the park. i must say that dillon LOVED the swing. he is a boy after his momma's own heart!! we hope you enjoy these pics of this adorable baby boy, who is becoming this adorable little boy :)

having a GREAT time swinging!!!

the sunset on the way home

he was worn out!!!

we love you!